Introduction
Senior managers and their assistants agree: diplomacy, discretion and advanced communication skills are critical for executive assistants. Increase your value by building and maintaining powerful business relationships, communicating with savvy and finesse and handling sensitive issues - and people - with tact and diplomacy.
How you will benefit
- Communicate more effectively with senior executives, your colleagues and clients
- Flex your communication style to better match your organization’s culture
- Handle office politics and turf wars effectively and gracefully
- Increase your comfort zone, handle the social and protocol aspects of business at an executive level
Who should attend
RBNC designed this course for senior administrative professionals including those who assist CEOs, COOs, CIOs, chairmen, presidents, vice presidents and directors.
What you will cover
Module 1: Clarify and validate your communication objective(s)
- What, exactly, are you trying to achieve with your communication?
- What do you want the executive to do with the information you provide?
- How to build a foundation of influence and credibility to handle situations with discretion and authority
- How to identify and build on your communication strengths
- How to handle sensitive information and delicate situations with tact
Module 2: Identify the executive’s communication objective(s)
- You know what you want…but what does the executive want?
- What if the executive may have no interest in hearing from you? Your approach?
- What if the executive want to hear? How to sell yourself?
Module 3: Understand how the executive wants you to communicate with him/her
- How to identify the executive personalities
- Communication styles (in-person, phone, or e-mail)? Details or highlights? Reasons or bottom line only? Big picture before specifics, or vice versa? Text, pictures, or spreadsheets? Blackberry or laptop? Morning, noon, or night?
Module 4: Craft a message that meets your and the executive’s objectives
- How to prepare information before meeting?
- How to adapt his/her objectives and styles? (Don’t expect them to adapt to yours)
Module 5: Reflect, assess, adjust
- What is after Action Review (AAR) process?
- After you communicate with a senior executive, do your own AAR